Refuse container engagement
AssigneeThe Heil Co.
InventorsDavid G. Lewis, Stanley L. Maroney, Chad R. Blanchard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A refuse collection vehicle includes a grabber that is operable to engage a refuse container, at least one sensor that is arranged to collect data indicating a relative positioning of a first arm of the grabber and a second arm of the grabber, and a controller having one or more control elements for selecting a target positioning of a first arm of the grabber and a second arm of the grabber. The first arm and the second arm automatically move to the target positioning in response to a signal received by an onboard computing device of the vehicle.
Claims20
A refuse collection vehicle comprising:
- a grabber that is operable to engage a refuse container, wherein the grabber comprises a first arm and a second arm;
- at least one container sensor arranged to generate sensor data indicating a presence of the refuse container;
- and
- an onboard computing device coupled to the at least one container sensor, wherein the first arm and the second arm automatically move to a target positioning in response to a determination of the target positioning by the onboard computing device, wherein, to automatically move the first arm and the second arm to the target positioning, the onboard computing device is configured to:
- determine, based at least in part on the sensor data from the at least one container sensor, a dimensional feature of the refuse container;
- and
- determine the target positioning based at least in part on the dimensional feature of the refuse container.
A method, comprising:
- receiving, by an onboard computing device of a refuse collection vehicle, sensor data generated by at least one container sensor of the refuse collection vehicle, wherein the sensor data indicates a presence of a refuse container;
- determining, by the onboard computing device, a target positioning for a grabber of the refuse collection vehicle, the determining comprising:
- determining, based at least in part on the sensor data from the at least one container sensor, a dimensional feature of the refuse container;
- and
- determining the target positioning based at least in part on the dimensional feature of the refuse container;
- and
- causing, by the onboard computing device, a first arm and a second arm of the grabber to automatically move to the target positioning.
The method 10, wherein the determining, by the onboard computing device, the target positioning is further based at least in part on input received, by the onboard computing device, from a controller of the refuse collection vehicle.
A method, comprising:
- receiving, by an onboard computing device of a refuse collection vehicle, data generated by at least one sensor of the refuse collection vehicle, the data indicating a relative positioning of a first arm and a second arm of a grabber of the refuse collection vehicle, the grabber being operable to engage a refuse container;
- receiving, from a controller of the refuse collection vehicle having one or more control elements for selecting a target positioning, an indication of the target positioning selected via the one or more control elements;
- and
- in response to receiving the target positioning, causing, by the onboard computing device, the first arm and the second arm to automatically move to the target positioning.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.